Forbes Ukraine bought by subject of critical article

Leonid Bershidsky of Bloomberg writes that the Ukraine edition of Forbes has been purchased by a businessman in that country who was the subject of a 2009 article critical of his operations and who threatened to sue.

Bershidsky writes, “The magazine’s editor, Vladimir Fedorin, responded with a terse statement published on Forbes.ua. ‘I consider the sale of Forbes Ukraine the end of the project in its current form,’ Fedorin wrote. ‘I am convinced that the buyer is pursuing one of three goals: 1) to silence journalists before the presidential election; 2) to whitewash his reputation; 3) to use the publication for purposes that have nothing to do with the media business.’ Fedorin said that he would stay on until October to wrap up his involvement in the project.

“Ukrainian journalists expressed concern and outrage at the change of the media company’s ownership. ‘All of Kurchenko’s business was built up using the government machine,’ investigative reporter Mustafa Nayyem commented on Facebook. ‘The only function of UMH in this scheme is to keep the government machine in the hands of those who allow him to expand and protect his assets.’

“Possibly the most famous Ukrainian, world boxing champion turned politician Vitali Klitschko, agreed that Kurchenko’s purchase was a political deal. ‘According to the information I get, he is just a person who has been made the public face, a front for other people who are well known but they do not want to go public with this business,’ he said.

“Just two days before the UMH deal was announced, Mako, the business group led by Yanukovych’s eldest son Oleksandr, suddenly issued a press release denying any involvement, even though no one had suspected Mako of it.

“In written answers to a Forbes reporter’s questions, Kurchenko said that he was merely interested in the media business and promised his new company’s journalists editorial independence.”

Read more here.